The Avengers Underdog
by StarlightMoon98
Summary: (Story two of Iron Man's Underdog) Stella is now the newest agent in the Avengers and is highly skilled at what she does. (She basically takes the place of black widow in this story). She still isn't sure if she was right to choose to be with Tony- Especially now. Her relationship is wavering as she meets a new guy who has taken interest in her named Steve Rogers. What will happen?
1. Chapter 1

"How bad is it?" Director Fury asked Agent Coulson as he stepped out of the Helicopter.

"That's the problem sir- we don't know." Coulson replied over the alarms.

Coulson led Nick down to where the tesseract was being held. "We had read an energy surge from the tesseract four hours ago."

"NASA didn't authorize Selvig to go to test phase." Nick said as they walked quickly.

"He wasn't testing it, he wasn't even in the room- spontaneous event."

"It just turned itself on?" He asked skeptically."Where are the energy levels now?"

"Climbing. When Selvig couldn't shut it down we ordered evacuation. The campus should be clear in the next half-hour." Agent Coulson paused. "Sir, evacuation may be futile."

"We should tell them to go back to sleep?"

Coulson sighed. "If we can't control the tesseract's energy, there may not be a safe minimum distance."

"I need you to make sure the phase two prototypes are shipped out." Nick said, ignoring the Agent's previous statements.

'Sir, is that really a priority right now?" Coulson was irritated at how Fury cared more about some prototypes than the people in and around the area.

"Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on. Clear out the tech below. Every piece of phase two on a truck and gone." Fury said with finality.

"Yes sir." Coulson said reluctantly, ordering two men to help him as he walked away.

"Talk to me doctor" Fury said to as he approached the aged man.

"Director! The tesseract is misbehaving." He said as a man poked at the tesseract, which acted violently.

"Is that supposed to be funny?" Nick asked as he studied it.

"No it's not funny at all. The tesseract is not only active, she's behaving."

"I assume you pulled the plug?"

"It's an energy source- we turn off the power, she turns it back on. If she reaches peak level…"

"We prepared for this doctor. Harnessing energy from space."

"But we don't have the harness." Selvig started clicking things on a computer. "My calculations are far from complete, and she's throwing off interference and radiation-Nothing harmful, just low levels of gamma radiation."

Director Fury turned worriedly. "That can be harmful" He corrected."Where's agent Barton?"

Selvig scoffed. "The Hawk? In his nest, as usual."

Fury ordered through the handheld radio for Barton to report, which Barton wasted no time doing, gliding from his high point down to the ground. "I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things." Nick said as they walked together.

"Oh, I see better from a distance." Barton said seriously.

"You seen anything that might set this thing off?" He asked, pointing to the tesseract.

"Doctor, it's spiking again." A scientist working furiously on a computer called out to Selvig.

"If there's any tampering sir, it wasn't at this end." Barton said matter-of-factly as the two stood in front of the tesseract. "The cube is a doorway to the other end of space right?-doors open from both sides."

Suddenly the tesseract was crackling and acting strange, causing the ground to rumble and shake beneath their feet. A small vortex formed on the inside of the tesseract, shooting a thick blue beam in a straight line, opening a bigger, dangerous looking vortex where space cold clearly be seen. A man suddenly materialized through the blue light, stopping all of the commotion from the tesseract. Guards cautiously approached the man as he slowly stood up with a crazed grin, holding a scepter, wearing a suit and cape of shades of green, old, and black.

"Sir…put down the sphere!" Nick called. The man stared at it a moment before blasting Fury backwards with it. Gunshots were being everywhere and it had turned into a deadly fight. Very soon and with almost no effort at all, the guards in the room were all down, leaving Barton, Nick, and Selvig. Barton approached the man in attack but was stopped and taken control of just by a touch to the chest of the man's scepter. -leteral control. His eyes had turned the deepest of sky blue. Nick was trying to run out with the tesseract but was stopped by the man saying he needed the tesseract.

"I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose."

"Loki, brother of Thor" Selvig said

"We have no quarrel with your people."Nick said

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot." He said in a mystifying voice.

"Are you planning to step on us?" Fury said with a raised eyebrow.

"I came with glad tidings of a world made free….from freedom. Freedom is life's greatest lie. Once you accept that, in your heart," He placed the scepter on Selvig's chest and controlled him as well, turning his eyes the same icy blue. "You will know peace." He finished.

"The portal is collapsing in on itself, we've got about two minutes before this place goes down in rubble." Selvig said. Loki knocked down the director, who attempted to chase after this Loki, failing in the end, leaving the tesseract in his possession.

"As of right now, we are at war." Fury announced.

Meanwhile, Stella had been exactly the kind of person Nick wanted to be working for him, so he'd been able to convince her to be one of his special agents. Of course Tony would be involved in the Avengers Initiative also, but he wouldn't be doing the kind of work Stella would. After getting new amazingly cool gear and a sexy uniform, Stella was sent on her first mission-to fetch Bruce Banner, also called Hulk.


	2. Chapter 2

Stella had been hired into the Avenger's Initiative, though they were still looking for the other members to be added in. Fury was a spitefull man with a lot of secrets, though for some reason he decided to trust Stella with almost everything he knew-but of course every man has his secrets. She knew so much more than any of the other agents and it kind of made her feel special. Why did Nick tell her all of that? She had no clue. But what he said was to stay between the two of them only and she couldn't even tell Tony. He'd also been added to the Avenger's team after a long contemplation of Fury. All Tony knew so far was that he was being chosen as a member- he didn't know what the Avenger's was about yet and Stella was good at keeping it from him until he was allowed to find out. Meanwhile, she was on her first mission.

She'd been filled with knowledge and given all new top of the line gear. Her suit was like a second skin and dark gray that showed off her above average curves and hourglass figure. She could move around easily in it and when she did she looked so graceful. She'd also be trained a little more- though she was already almost an expert. She was given a nice pistol to keep on her gear belt at all times and cool gadgets here and there. Her dark hair fell down nicely on her back in beachy waves, blue-green eyes shining with anticipation. She'd been ordered to go get the Hulk-or Bruce Banner, to join up with them. The little girl she'd payed to lure him down to a hut had done finished her task successfully.

"You know, for a man to be trying to avoid stress, you picked a hell of a place to settle." Stella said, revealing herself to the confused man.

"Avoiding the stress isn't the secret." He said in a questioning tone.

"Then what is it-yoga?" She asked. She'd picked up some of Tony's smart remarks as he had taken care of her.

"You brought me to the edge of the city. Smart." He said looking around, wringing his hands. "I assume the whole place is surrounded." He looked out of the windows.

"Just you and me" Stella lied as she walked closer.

"Pretty young to be a spy don't you think? Shouldn't you be in school with friends fantasizing about boy bands?"

"I haven't been to school since I was seven. I have no friends." Stella said blatantly. Banner was quiet for a moment.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Stella Pots."

He sighed. "Are you here to kill me ? Because that's not going to work out for everyone."

"No. Of course not. I'm here on behalf of SHIELD. He paused and repeated the name.

"How'd they find me?"

"We never lost you, doctor." She said, using the knowledge she'd found out from Fury. "We've kept our distance. Even helped keep some other interested parties off your scent."

"Why?"

"Nick Fury seems to trust you. But now we need you to come in."

He waited. "What if I say no?"

"I'll persuade you." Stella said with confidence as she grinned with a set of perfect teeth.

"And what if the….other guy…says no?" He asked carefully.

"You've been more than a year without an incident. I don't think you wanna break that streak."

"Well, I don't always get what I want." He said idly rocking an old baby crib.

"Doctor, we're facing a potential global catastrophe." Stella said as she grabbed her phone.

He chuckled. "Well, those I actively try to avoid."

"this" Stella said, sliding a picture on her phone on the table over to Banner. "Is the tesseract. It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet.

"What does Fury want me to do with it, swallow it?" He asked as he studied the picture, now wearing glasses.

"He wants you to find it. It's been taken." She said as she sat down. 'It emits a gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace. There's no one else that knows gamma radiation like you do. If there was, that's where I'd be."

"So Fury's not after the monster?" He asked, not believing it.

"Not that he's told me."

"And he tells you everything?"

She sighed. "Talk to Fury. He needs you on this."

"He needs me in a cage?" He said, looking down.

"No one's going to put you in a c-"

"STOP LYING TO ME!" He cut her off by yelling loudly, startling her. Before he could finish his sentence she'd pulled out her gun and aimed it at him, alarmed.

He backed up and smiled lightly. "I'm sorry, that was mean. I just wanted to see what you'd do."

Stella still held gun pointed at him, unwavering. He waved his arms up worriedly.

"Why don't we do this the easy way where you don't use that and the other guy doesn't make a mess….ok…..Stella?"

She waited a moment before placing the gun back onto her belt. "Stand down." She said into the ear piece, signaling for the various guards outside to back off. "We're good here."Banner looked a little disappointed."Just you and me?" He mumbled. Stella didn't know what to say. Meanwhile, Fury was working on bringing in Captain Rogers, the Amazing Captain America.


	3. Chapter 3

Steve Roger's was furiously hitting a punching bag, though not focusing on his workout. His mind was elsewhere, lost in a sea of painful memories. He remembered Peggy, and Bucky times he's had at war, the men he's fought, The day he and everybody else had thought he died, the day he was melted out. The memories were overwhelming him. He was suddenly pulled out of his trance when he managed to punch the punching bag off the chain it was held onto and fly across the room, spreading sand everywhere before it slammed into the wall.

He breathed heavily and sat for a moment. Then he got up and grabbed another bag to hang up from a stack of others. He started lashing out on it when he heard a voice- Nick Fury's voice.

"Trouble sleeping?" He asked as he walked in. Roger's continued punching.

"I've slept for 70 years sir, I think I've had my fill."

"Then you should be out, celebrating with the world." Fury said. Rogers stopped and looked at him before walking to a bench.

"When I went under, the world was at war. I wake up they say we won. They didn't say what we lost."

"We've made some mistakes along the way-some very recently." Nick went on to explain to Rogers that the tesseract had been pulled out of the ocean when Howard Stark was looking for him. He also told him about Loki taking it. He asked Rogers to join and after a little persuasion (and some attitude from the soldier might I add) Rogers agreed.

"There's a debriefing packet waiting for you back at your apartment, we'll get you caught up to speed. Is there anything you can tell us about the tesseract that we ought to know now?" Nick said.

"You shoulda left it in the ocean" Rogers said as he walked away.

Stella was at the new Stark tower, back from her mission and waiting for Tony to get back, helping him with what he was doing. Tony finished hooking the pipes underwater and flew up, pulling up a video chat in his suit with Stella.

"Good to go on this end, the rest is up to you." He said.

"You disconnected the transmission lines? Are we off the grid?" She asked.

"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy."

"Well, assuming the arc reactor takes over and it actually works" She shot with a smile.

"I assume….light her up." He said once he had clear view of the building. It shined like the north star in bright lights many stories high. His name, of course, was the brightest.

"How does it look?" She asked, wishing she could see it from his point of view.

"Like Christmas but with more…me"

"We've got to go wider on the public awareness campaign, you need to do some press."

"Stella. You're killing me. The moment remember? Enjoy the moment." He said as he landed and robotic arms began moving with him, taking off his iron man suit.

"Then get in here and I will" She grinned.

Jarvis spoke up as Tony walked over. "Sir, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line"

"I'm not in. I'm actually out" He said as he was almost inside.

"Sir, he's insisting."

"Throw a spine Jarvis, I've got a date." He walked up to Stella, who was studying a holographic blueprint.

"Levels are holding steady, I think" She said as she bit her lip. It was enticing to Tony. She was wearing a tanktop and Yoga pants and was the cutest girl in the world to him- woman, actually ever since she turned 18 last month.

"Of course they are. I was directly involved." He said as he walked up behind her and grabbed her waist. "Which brings me to my next question-How does it feel to be a genius?" He smiled.

"Well," She turned around to face him, putting her hands on his chest "I really wouldn't know would I?"

"What do you mean, all of this came from you"

"Well, you taught me all of it since I was young. And actually, all of this came from that" She said, putting her finger against the core in his chest.

He smiled. "Give yourself some credit, please. Stark Tower is your baby." He said as he put his hand on her shoulders, his right thumb touching the scar that was left from when she was shot by Justin Hammer- Even now it still made his blood boil. He continued. "Give yourself 12% of the credit."

"12%" She repeated raising her eyebrow.

"An argument can be made for 15."

"12% of my baby?" She joked as she walked to the couch, Tony following.

"Well I did do all the heavy lifting" He defended "Literally, I lifted heavy things. And sorry but the security snafu? That was on you."

She sat down "Ohhh"

"My private elevator-"

"You mean our private elevator"

"It was teeming with sweaty workmen…I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren't I?" He asked as he sat down next to her.

"It's not gonna be that subtle." She laughed.

"Sir the telephone." Jarvis interrupted. "I'm afraid my protocols are being overridden."

"Stark we need to talk." He heard agent Coulson say over the speaker. Tony was quick to react and picked up the phone, aiming the high tech device at his face.

"You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark. Please leave a message." He said in a computerized voice. Stella couldn't stop giggling in the background.

"This is urgent" Coulson said, not finding him funny.

"Then leave it urgently"

Suddenly, the elevator opened and Coulson walked out.

"Security breach, it's on you." He said aggravated.

"Phil, come on in" Stella said as she got up to greet her coworker.

"I can't stay." He said smiling at her.

" Um phil? His first name is Agent" Tony said accusingly. Tony was quick to get jealous over Stella despite them only being together for six months. The whole idea of them being a couple still hasn't settled in for Stella. She viewed him more of a role model that she's always adored, like a cool uncle. I mean he practically raised her so the thought of them being an item just felt weird. What she did on the roof the night of Justin's presentation was out of impulse in the moment, but she was trying hard to give this relationship a chance.

"Come on in, we were celebrating" She said

"Which is why he can't stay" Tony said with an attitude.

"We need you to look this over as soon as possible." He said as he started to hand Tony a black folder.

"I don't like being handed things." He said. That's always been an odd pet peeve of his. Stella reached out and grabbed it for him. Stella took it and handed it right over to Tony (Stella was the only exception)

"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday." Tony told him. "This isn't a consultation." Coulson replied. Stella looked over at Tony.

"It's finally time for you to find out what Avenger's Initiative is about." She said happily.

"I'm still pretty offended by your report." He told Coulson. Stella looked at him confused. She supposed Nick didn't say anything about Tony's report because it was useless information and he was already guaranteed a spot, so it didn't matter anyway.

"Yea apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others." Tony said as he opened the folder and walked over to his computer.

"No denying it there" Stella agreed with Coulson.

"I'm afraid this isn't about personality profiles anymore." He stated.

"Whatever. Stella, come over here." He demanded. He began talking as she stood beside him and he typed away."You know, I thought we were having a moment."

"I was having 12% of a moment" She mocked.

He pulled up everything he needed to know about the Avengers. "Why can't you just tell me this stuff?" He asked.

"I don't know what and what not Fury wants me to keep a secret, so I'll let you find everything out the way he wants you to." She said. "I have to take a jet to the headquarters before you- so tonight."

"Tomorrow." He objected.

"I'm leaving tonight Tony. You've got a lot of homework. And I still have to call in about your awareness campai-"

"Stella." He said sighing. "You are a top secret agent who's about to be really busy all the time. You don't have to act like my assistant anymore." She looked at him and smiled, thankful for his understanding."Fly safe." He said.

She was walking away when she felt him tug at the end of her tanktop and pull her close, kissing her passionately before she left. Stella still had to get used to Tony kissing her, though they've done it a million times before. It still didn't feel right to her, but she acted as if it did and returned the gesture.

Coulson started feeling uncomfortable so he cleared his throat, causing them to break off the kiss. "I will escort you to the jet Agent Pots." He said. Tony said goodbye as she walked out behind Phil.

"Work hard."She said. Tony looked at all the work he had ahead of him and sighed. It was going to be a long night.


	4. Chapter 4

Stella walked up to Agent Coulson as he and another man stepped off of the aircraft. They were on a huge floating vessel in the middle of the sea. The man was very good looking- That Stella couldn't deny.

"Agent S," Coulson greeted her. They decided to have Stella called Agent S due to the fact That Agent Pots didn't sound right. "Captain Rogers." She said, introducing her to the above average man.

"Ma'am." He greeted. He was a bit skeptical on the younger looking woman, but she was quite a beauty to him.

"Hi." She smiled, blushing slightly. Her smile reminded him of Peggy's. She turned back to Coulson. "They need you on the bridge, they're starting face-Trade."

"See you there." Coulson said as he left the two alone.

"It was quite the buzz around here finding you in the ice." Stella said as she walked with him. "I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America training cards yet?"

"Trading cards?" He asked with a grin.

"They're vintage….he's very proud." They laughed. They stopped in front of Bruce. "Dr. Banner?" Rogers said with an outstretched arm.

"Yeah, hi." Banner said, shaking hands. "They told me you'd be coming."

"Word is you can find the cube."

"Is that the only word on me?" He asked as he looked around.

"Only word I care about."He said. There was an awkward silence as both looked around. Banner made conversation. "Must be strange for you- all of this" He said as he gestured around.

"Well, this is actually kind of familiar."

"I see you've met Ms. Stella over there. How'd she get you in?"

"Nick actually asked me." He said. "Though now that I think back I would've much rather had you come get me." He said as he turned around and smiled at Stella. Was he actually flirting with her?! She put her head down shyly and smiled.

"Well. You boys may wanna step inside." She said as the propellers on the vehicle whirred loudly, swishing up water. "It's gonna get a little hard to breathe." They all stepped inside as the huge metal aircraft took off into the sky, high above the clouds. They walked past the room full of large windows everywhere and agents busily doing their work. They all took in the marvelous sight that became even cooler as they disappeared into the sky, not being able to be seen by anything.- not even a bird.

"Gentlemen." Fury greeted everybody as they sat at a large table. "Doctor thank you for coming" He said as he shook Banners hand.

"Thank you for asking nicely." He said, looking over at Stella. "So…how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind. "

"Where are you with that?" he asked.

They went over everything they knew along with everything banner knew. It all sounded really smart and he set up a plan to track the gamma rays.

"You got somewhere for me to work?"

Nick asked Stella to show Banner to his lab. "You're gonna love it doc, you got all the toys." She said as he followed her.

Coulson and Rogers were standing awkwardly by each other as they watched a computer search for loki's location. "I mean…if it's not too much trouble" Coulson said. There was a long awkward silence.

"No, no it's fine" Rogers said.

"They're all vintage….Took me a couple years to collect all of them." There was another moment of silence. "Near mint" He said."Slight boxing around the edges but-"

"We got a hit" He was interrupted by an unknown agent with a beeping monitor. They'd finally found Loki.

"Location?"

"Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Konigstrasse….He's not exactly hiding."

"Stella." He said, looking over at Stella who had just returned from showing Banner his work station. "You're up."

She nodded and left to get her gear, ready to take down and apprehend Loki.


	5. Chapter 5

Loki was in a large ballroom full of German patrons in stunning suits and dresses along with a live orchestra playing their music. A statue of some old ancient Pegasus sat in the middle, very largely. Everybody was talking and drinking, having a good time. Clint was outside as he took out guards like it was as easy as lifting a finger. He set up his equipment, ready to open the big heavy vault door as he waited on Loki to get what he needed-an eyeball.

Loki walked down the large wide marble stairs leading down to all the patrons, wearing a suit and a formal black trench coat. He was holding his scepter with a mischievous grin on his face- no wonder they called him the god of mischief. He flipped the scepter around, suddenly whacking the only guard inside the building in the face, knocking him unconscious as he fell painfully to the ground. People gasped and cried out in shock everywhere as Loki continued on to an old man, grabbing him by his neck and throwing him down on the statue. People screamed and ran as Loki pulled out a device and stabbed it into the man's eye as he twitched and spasmed with pain. The device was connected to something Clint held up to the door. It made a holographic model of the man's eye, opening the door. Loki looked around at the terrified people in pleasure as he shifted into his godly clothes- ridiculous helmet included.

People were panicking and screaming as they ran every which way. Loki destroyed any police officer that tried to intervene. "Kneel before me!" He demanded. The people did not listen, so he'd made more holographs of himself to block the people from running any farther. "I said KNEEL!" he yelled, his voice echoing as everybody got silent and slowly crouched to a kneel.

"Is not this, simpler?" He asked as he marveled at the mortals kneeling before him. "Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth in humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power…for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel" He smiled. There was silence as an old man stood up. Loki eyed him as he grinned. 'what a foolish mortal' he thought.

"Not to men like you." He shook out.

"There are no men like me" Loki said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"There are always men like you."

"Look to your elder people." Loki said as he aimed his scepter at the old man, building up a charge. "Let him be an example." Suddenly, the man was pushed out of the way and Loki felt a shock course through his body momentarily as a small electrical pod was thrown at him.

"You know, you should respect your elders." Stella said as she stood up straight. Loki got up with a grunt.

"I've heard of you." He grinned. "This shouldn't take but a mere second." Loki was distracted when he saw a big aircraft appear and see the bottom open up to reveal a large gun.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down" Steve's voice called over the intercom. He angrily shot up at the aircraft, but Steve navigated it to not get hit. Stella took this opportunity to charge at Loki and landed a punch on his face, knocking off his helmet. Loki attempted to hit her with the scepter, but she used her arm to guard herself. The second time he hit her he was able to throw her across the ground with the force he'd swung with. She rolled and slammed into a cement fountain, knocking the breath out of her. She got back up quickly and ran towards him, swinging and missing. She dodged a couple hits left and right. As she dodged the last swing, Loki swung the scepter back around, slamming into her back and sending her painfully flying.

"Kneel" Loki said as he held Stella's head down in a bow formation with his scepter. "Not today" She grunted as she flipped and scissor kicked him in the face, sending him staggering backwards. "The guys all over the place" Rogers said as he maneuvered the aircraft closer, watching Stella get tossed in the air. Suddenly, the sound board in the aircraft was over ridden and started playing back in black by ACDC over the PA system. Stella was lying on her back from just being thrown as she heard the music and looked up to see Tony flying through. She smiled widely as Loki looked up in confusion. Tony blasted Loki as he landed, sending Loki flying into the stairs, cracking them with a deafening blow. "Make your move reindeer games." He said as he aimed everything he had at Loki. Loki sighed in defeat and slowly put his arms up. "Good move"

"You ok?" He asked Stella. She nodded with a light smile, though she wasn't. She no doubt was covered in bruises and she'd hit her back really hard on the fountain, so it was throbbing in pain.- but she'd get over it soon.

"Let's just get this guy back to HQ" she said as she handcuffed him and loaded him into the carrier.


	6. Chapter 6

"Is he saying anything?" Nick asked Stella through the earpiece she wore.

"Not a word." She replied, still staring at him-ever since they'd loaded him into the aircraft, he'd done nothing but stare mysteriously and uncomfortably at Stella. She'd decide to play along and stare back at him, but soon it got boring, so she got up to talk to Tony quietly.

"I don't like it." I said just loud enough to only Tony to hear.

"What, rock of ages giving up so easily?"

"I didn't think it would be that easy."

"It wasn't-you got tossed around like a ragdoll."

"That's not what I mean Tony." Stella sighed and Tony returned the gesture. After a moment of silence, Tony walked up to the pilot seat to meet Steve Rogers.

"You seem pretty spry for an older fellow." He greeted with. Rogers scoffed. Tony continued. "What's your thing-palates?" There was no response. "What?" Tony said after a while. "It's like calisthenics. You might've missed a couple things, you know- doing time as a capsicle."

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." Steve said with a hint of annoyance.

"Yea, well, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you."

They were interrupted by a heavy lightning storm that had just suddenly appeared.

"Where's this coming from?" Stella thought aloud, going up front to where Rogers and Stark were. She turned and caught Loki looking around nervously. "What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?"

"I'm not overly fond of what follows…" He said skeptically.

Suddenly, there was a large thud on the top of the aircraft, causing it to shake. They all looked up in alarm. Tony put on his mask and opened the back hatch, causing the wind to stir about wildly and viciously. "What are you doing?!" Stella yelled over the loud whooshing. Suddenly, the man she'd seen pictures of and heard of to be named Thor landed gracefully with a loud thud, looking angry. He had no trouble knocking Tony down and grabbing Loki.

"No!" Stella yelled as he picked up Loki by the neck. If he killed him, or freed him, the tesseract would be lost. The world couldn't afford that. Without thinking, she jumped out of the aircraft onto Thor's back as they plummeted down, rain hitting her face like bullets. She held on as tight as she could.

"Have you gone mad!" Thor yelled to her as he held Loki with her on his back. She didn't even have a parachute, how could she have been so stupid!? Thor didn't know who this was or why she'd basically just set her death wish, but he knew he had to make sure she landed ok- injury was unavoidable but as long as she didn't die.

Tony had wasted no time jumping after the three, though he couldn't see them anywhere. He was panicking. No way Stella would survive this fall. He just hoped the big blonde guy would help her out, though he wasn't so sure. The pit of his stomach had dropped as he thought of what his life would be like if he lost Stella. Rogers had been busy leaving the aircraft with the guard that was acting as a co-pilot and then putting on a parachute, so he was far behind the others.

Thor had let Loki land with a hard skid across the ground as he groaned in pain. He'd caught Stella just enough for her to land harshly-but not too harshly. He glanced over once he'd finished landing to see her unconscious body about three feet away, the only harm was probably a few cuts and scratches and she had hit her head-but not enough to do any lasting damage. He quickly diverted his attention to his brother, who chuckled slightly.

"Where is the tesseract?" Thor demanded.

"I missed you too" Loki half-laughed and half-scoffed.

"Do I look to be in a gaming mood?" Thor asked raising his voice.

"You should thank me. Loki said through painful grunts as he propped himself up on his elbows. "With the bifrost gone, how much dark energy did the Allfather have to muster up to conjure you here to your precious Earth?"

Thor dropped his hammer, letting it thud on the ground as he pulled Loki up and grabbed his throat. 'We thought you were dead."

"…Did you mourn?"

"Of course I did-we all did! Our father-"

"Your father" Loki corrected as he pushed Thor off. Thor and Loki had continued arguing about this and that- all deep matters. While in the middle of their argument, Iron man had finally swooped down, shoving Thor off of a cliff and a great distance down, skidding him across the dirt of the forest they were in. They continued their battle as Tony made a mockery of Thor, cracking wise jokes. By the time they'd gotten through a small amount of time in battle, They'd destroyed half of the woods while Loki sat beside the unconscious Stella and watched them. They were both badly banged up by each other and Rogers had to jump in and finally end the fight with his shield, deflecting Thor's attack which created a huge crater in the forest, knocking down at least a mile wide perimeter of trees, blowing Tony and Thor back.

"Are we done here?" He asked as they all breathed heavily.

They'd finally made it back to HQ. Loki had been brought in, making Banner uncomfortable by smiling mischievously at him as he was escorted by.

**Sorry for the shorter than-usual chapter guys-I'm tired and I wanted to finish at least one more. Now that all the Avengers are finally in I can start making the romance scenes happen 3 Thank you to all of my followers and favorites too! ****J**


	7. Chapter 7

Nick had gone in to talk to Loki properly in his holding cell. "In case it's unclear- if you try to escape, If you so much as scratch that glass," Fury pressed a button, causing win to violently whir through loudly. "You'll go 30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap." He closed it back up. "You get how that works; this is the boot, and you're the ant." Loki chuckled menacingly.

"It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me" Loki said.

"Built for something a lot stronger than you." Nick stated.

"Oh I've heard." Loki looked over at a camera that was just on the outside of his cell and stared at it as he spoke. "A mindless beast, makes play he's still a man." Stella and the others were watching and listening on the security screens-including banner. Stella looked over at him and they shared an awkward glance.

"How desperate are you, That you call on such lost creatures to defend you?" Loki sneered.

"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war, you steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill because it's fun. You have made me very desperate-You might not be glad that you did." Fury said as he moved closer, only the glass separating the two.

"Ohhh." Loki smiled "It burns you to have come so close. To have the tesseract, to have power…unlimited power. And for what?" He laughed as he looked back at the camera. "A warm light for all of mankind to share." He turned back to face Fury, anger on his face. "And then to be reminded what real power is." He spat. Fury scoffed as a smirk crossed his face.

"Well let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something." He said as he walked out.

"He really grows on you doesn't he?" Banner said as the security cameras clicked off.

"Loki's gonna drag this out." Steve said with a sigh. "So Thor, what's his play?"

"Well." Thor began "He has an army called the chituari. They are not of Asgard, nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the tesseract."

"An army….from outer space." Steve said as he looked over at Stella who had the same worried look on her face.

"So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Eric Selvig for." Banner realized. Thor wrinkled his eyebrows in question at the familiar name.

"He's an astrophysicist." Banner answered.

"He's a friend of mine." Thor corrected.

There was a brief pause , but Banner broke it. "I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium-what do they need iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing unit." Stark said as he finally walked in. He was continuing the conversation he was having with Coulson. "I'm just saying, pick a weekend, I'll fly you to Portland." Coulson smiled and shook his head and sat down as Tony greeted Stella with a peck on the lips. She blushed do to the fact that everybody, including Steve, had a look of confusion. "Nobody touch my stuff." He said, referring to Stella who scoffed and rolled her eyes. He continued with Banner's question.

"It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD. " He walked up to Thor and patted his shoulder. "No hard feelings point break, you got a mean swing." Thor looked at him annoyed as Tony continued towards where Fury usually stood. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants. Raise the mizzenmast, jib the topsails" He joked as he stood over all the agents who looked at him as if he were stupid. "That man is playing Galaga- he thought we wouldn't notice…but we did." He pointed out, causing the man to quickly exit off and get back to work.

He started saying smart thins, touching and clicking things on the main computers when he discretely placed an object under the computers to get information nobody would find out otherwise. Stella didn't notice, but she'd spoken up "When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?"

"Last night." He stated as if it were obvious. "The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Rogers asked.

Banner jumped in to answer the question. "He'd have to heat the cube to 120-million Kelvin just to break through the coulomb barrier."

"Unless Selvig figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect" Tony chimed.

"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet." Banner countered.

"Finally." Tony said walking up to him, shaking his hand. "Someone who speaks English. Good to meet you Dr. Banner. Your work on antielectron collisions is unparalleld. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage-monster."

"….Thanks." Banner said.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube, Tony, watch it." Stella warned, knowing Tony wouldn't fit in too well here due to his personality.

"I was hoping you might join him." Nick said as he walked in, hearing the last statement. "I'd start with that stick of his."

Steve agreed. "It may be magical, but it looks an awful lot like a Hydra weapon." He said as he and Stella made eye contact. He grinned and she looked down so nobody could see her red face. Tony and Banner had turned and gone to the lab and Nick had gone off to do his own business, leaving Stella and Steve at the table.

"So." Steve said after a while of awkward silence. "You and Stark. He doesn't really look your type, to be honest." Stella felt slightly embarrassed. She knows the guy is cute but that shouldn't make her feel weird with him knowing-she almost wishes he didn't know. She pushed the thought out of mind, she couldn't think like that it was mean.

"Yea. We've been together since I was 7. I guess it's because I know him so well and I can understand what others don't about him, you know, see a different side."

"7?" He asked, his face in shock. Stella realized that what she'd said sounded differently than what she was trying to say and she started stuttering, feeling like an idiot.

"No no no! We weren't...together together when I was 7, I just lived with him. We didn't start dating, I guess, until I was 17, about to turn 18. Now I'm 18" She corrected.

He chuckled at her response. She was cute. "I know." He said smiling. "Just messing with you." Stella let out a big sigh and laughed. "You're mean for that! I thought Captain America was supposed to be the nicest person in the world." She accused.

"Oh, is that what they say?" He smiled with raised eyebrows.

"Sure do." She laughed. Steve was entranced by her smile and her laugh. "You've got a beautiful smile." He said, kicking himself for accidently letting the words slip out. She was with Tony, even though he didn't like the guy it didn't mean he could steal his girl. 'Or could I?' He thought as he saw Stella turn bright red and smile as she hid her face.


	8. Chapter 8

"Gamma ray readings are definitely consistent with selvig's reports of the tesseract. But it's going to take weeks to process." Banner said as he scanned the scepter, reading numbers from a computer. Tony walked to his own large holographic computer screen and started clicking furiously. "Well, if we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the Homer cluster, we can clock this at around 600 teraflops." He said finally done clicking as he walked over.

Banner scoffed. "All I packed was a toothbrush"

"You know, you should come by Stark Tower sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it, its candy land."

"Thanks, but last time I was in New York I kind of…broke Harlem." He said as he focused on the computer.

"Well, I promise a stress free environment." He said as he walked behind Banner. "No tension, no surprises." As he said this, he electrocuted Banner with a tiny electric bar. "Ow!" "Nothing?" Tony said a little disappointed at the lack of an amusing reaction.

"HEY!" He hears Rogers yell as he came in. "Are you nuts!?"

"Jury's out." Tony turned to Banner who just continued working. "You really have got a lid on it don't you? What's your secret- mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asked annoyed.

"Funny things are." Tony said, not interested in what he had to say. He didn't like the way the Soldier's eyes were always on Stella, whether he realized it or not.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship, including Stella isn't funny."

"How did Stella get pulled into the conversation?" Tony asked accusingly.

"Well she seems to be the only person other than yourself that you care about and she's on this ship. Therefore you'd be threatening her safety as well."

"Whatever." He dismissed. He looked over at Banner again. "You're tip-toeing big guy. You need to strut."

"And you need to focus on the problem Mr. Stark" Steve demanded.

"You think I'm not? Why did Fury call us in?" He said as he popped a blueberry into his mouth. "Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

Steve thought for a moment. "You think Fury's hiding something from us?"

"He's a spy captain-he's 'the' spy. His secrets have secrets. Its bugging him too" He pointed over at Banner "Isn't it."

"Uhhhh…I just wanna finish my work here and…"

"Doctor?" Steve pushed.

He paused for a moment and then sighed. " 'A warm light for all of mankind.' Loki's jab at Fury about the cube."

"I heard it." Steve said, listening.

"I think that was meant for you." He said as he pointed at Tony. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news."

"The Stark Tower?" Steve asked. "That big ugly-" He paused as Tony glared at him "…building in New York."

Banner nodded. "It's powered by an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for about a year."

"So, why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files. " Tony said as he looked over at his computer.

"I'm sorry, did you say-"

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours I'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide." He said proudly.

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around?" Steve said.

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome."

Steve rolled his eyes. 'I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused he'll succeed. "

"Out of all of us in the room, who is A wearing a spangle outfit, and B not of use?" Tony said. Banner interrupted. "Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you." He was quiet for a moment, then left after saying "Just find the cube."

Stella had been sent to find out what Loki's plans were. She had a charming aura and a silver tongue, so she was positive in her skills. Loki stopped and turned.

"There's not many people who can sneak up on me." He said with a smile.

"But you figured I'd come." She said.

"After. After whatever tortures Fury can concoct. You would appear as a friend. As a balm- and I would cooperate."

"I want to know what you've done to Selvig and Barton."

"I would say…I've expanded their minds." It was quiet for a moment. Stella walked up to where she was right in front of the glass.

"Once you've won, once you're king of the mountain, what happens to their minds?" She said as she crossed her arms. Loki was confused on why she was asking all the wrong questions.

"Your world in the balance and you bargain for two men? This makes me wonder how you would react if I were to take Tony Stark…or better yet, Captain Rogers" He smiled.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Stella said quickly.

"Oh come now." He said as he walked up, only the lass separating them. "I see the way you look at Tony, It's not like the way he looks at you at all. You look at him as a father figure not as a partner. You only stay with him because you don't want to lose him-because you love him; But not the same way he loves you. But when you look at that soldier, sparks fly. You can't go one second of eye contact with him without smiling and blushing like the stupid little teenage girl you are. Barton has seen your files, he's told me everything! Did you ever know how your parents really died? I assume you were told by the government and by police that it was an accident?" He was practically shouting now with an evil grin on his face.

"don't." Stella whimpered

"Would you like to find out how? " He laughed. "I won't be the one to tell you, sorry love. Why don't you ask your beloved Iron man how it all went down?" It was quiet for a moment. Loki got aggravated from her lack of response. "There are no promises for Selvig. He's very intelligent for a mortal, I do say. As for Barton," He looked over and slammed his fist on the glass angrily. "I won't touch him. Not until I make him kill you. Slowly. Painfully. In every inhumane way possible. And then he'll wake just long enough to see his good work, and when he screams, I'll split his skull!" He yelled smiling now as Stella turned around breathing heavily in fear. "This is my bargain you mulling quim."

"You're a monster." She said through sobs. Loki laughed. "Oh no. You brought the monster."

Stella's posture immediately changed as she stopped her fake cries and turned around proudly. "So. Banner. That's your play."

"What…" Loki said, dumfounded and speechless. A look of defeat was over his face.

She turned and walked down the steps, going towards the door as she talked into her earpiece. "Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Banner in the lab, I'm on the way. Send Thor as well." She paused and turned just before leaving.

"Thank you Loki, For your cooperation."

Stella was walking towards the lab she saw Tony, an unreadable expression on his face. "Stella." He said as he stopped in front of her. "Not now Tony we gotta get to the lab." She said, remembering what Loki had told her to ask him. If he'd hid anything from her about her parents death she didn't know what to feel. He grabbed her arm as she walked by. "Did you really think we weren't listening?" He asked.

"What?" Stella said, trying to wiggle out of his grasp. He held on tightly. "We heard everything….Is it true? Everything Loki said?"

**Hey guys! Thanks for bearing with me through some of the slow moving chapters and I could've gone sooo many different ways with the Loki conversation so I hope it was ok! Thanks for the hearts guys! ****J**


	9. Chapter 9

"We heard everything." Tony paused. "Is it true? Everything Loki said?"

"I don't know-is it?" Stella shot, referring to her parents. "Tony he'd better be lying. If you know anything about my parents' death than why the hell wouldn't you tell me!?" She ripped her arm out of his hand. He was quiet as he looked down and sighed. "Yes." Stella said.

"What?" Tony asked confused.

"Yes. What Loki said back there was true, Tony." Tony looked into her eyes. She didn't like the expression he was wearing.

"Then why did you never speak up? After all this time. I could've fixed it somehow and-"

"It can't be fixed Tony. I see you as a father figure. You practically raised me and if you thi-"

"Then why? Huh? Why did you kiss me back that night on the rooftop!?" He said, his voice angry and loud as he got closer.

"I don't know Tony! A lot happened that night and then you just swooped down and saved me ok! It was in the moment and it was a mistake!" She yelled, regretting the last words.

"A mistake, huh." He paused as he turned to leave. "Maybe the mistake was taking you in."

Stella stood there for a moment longer. Tears were threatening to escape her eyes, but she didn't let them. She didn't mean to make Tony upset like that. She still cared about him a lot and she couldn't imagine life without him. But she was going to find out what Loki meant by "ask Tony". Now wasn't the best of times, so she'd wait until everything calmed down a little. Steve was standing around the corner, listening the whole time, when he walked up to Stella.

"….Hey." He said as he looked down. She did the same, pretty ashamed of herself. "Hi."

It was quiet, and Stella began talking. "Look, I know you just heard everything Loki said. I won't deny it. But I think we should just forge-" She was interrupted by him grabbing the back of her neck and bringing her face to his, locking lips. She was surprised for a moment, though she began to kiss him back, brushing her fingers through his hair as her other hand rested on his muscular chest. A breath broke their kiss, but they kept going, interlocking their lips and letting their tongues trace each others.

"Agent S, report to the lab" Stella's earpiece called. They stopped, but still held each other, looking into each other's eyes. "I know that was very….poorly timed. But I just wanted to make it clear." Rogers said. She nodded and proceeded to the lab as Steve went the other way to take care of something after a moment more of staring. She'd just gotten to the lab at the same time Fury had, Tony was standing by the computer.

"What are you doing Mr. Stark?" He asked.

"Uhh….kinda wondering the same thing about you." He shot.

"You're supposed to be locating the tesseract." Fury said angrily.

"We are." Banner defended. "The models locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile."

"Yea" Tony chimed. "Then you get your cube back. No muss, no fuss. What is Phase 2 by the way?"

Suddenly, Steve walked in and slammed a large gun on the metal table. "Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons. Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me."

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the tesseract . This does not mean that we're making we-" Fury began, but was cut off by Tony.

"I'm sorry Nick. What were you lying?" He said as he turned the computer for Fury to see the blueprints of the weapon. Nick was at a loss.

"Did you know about this?" Banner asked Stella.

"No clue." She said looking angrily at Nick. "You want to think about removing yourself from this environment doctor?"

Banner scoffed. "I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed."

"Loki is manipulating you." She said

"And you've been doing what exactly?" He accused.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction." It was quiet for a moment when Fury sighed.

"Because of him" He said as he pointed at Thor who had a confused look on his face.

"Me?"

Fury explained. "Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly. Hilariously, outgunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet" Thor said a little offended.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And you're not the only threat. The world is filling p with people who can't be matched, that can't be controlled."

"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve shot.

"Your work with the tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is a signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war" Thor chimed.

"A higher form?" Steve asked.

"You forced our hand." Nick said, "We had to come up with something "

"A nuclear deterrent." Tony scoffed. "Because that always calms everything right down."

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark" Nick said irritated.

"I'm sure if he still made weapons Stark would be neck-deep-" Steve began but was cut off by Tony.

"Hold on. How is this now about me?"

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve shot.

"I thought humans were more evolved then this." Thor said.

"Excuse me?" Fury said turning. "Do we come to your planet and blow stuff up?"

"You treat your champions with such mistrust" Thor said.

"Are you boys really that Naïve?" Stella said annoyed "SHIELD monitors potential threats"

"Captain America's on that threat watch?" Banner said. It was hard to focus on one conversation as everybody bickered with each other.

"We all are" She told him.

"Wait" Tony said to Steve "You're on that list? Are you above or below angry bees?"

"Stark, so help me god if you make one more wise crack-" Steve began but Tony cut him off.

"Threat! Verbal threat! I feel threatened."

"Show some respect"

"Respect what?" There was too much arguing going on to understand anyone for a while, but then Thor spoke up."You speak of control yet you court chaos."

"That's his MO isn't it?" Banner said. "I mean, what are we a team? No. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're…we're a time bomb."

"You" Fury said menacingly "Need to step away."

"Why shouldn't the guy let of a little steam?" Tony defended.

'You know damn well why! Back off." Steve yelled.

"Oh I'm starting to want you to make me." Tony pushed.

"Yea." Steve scoffed. "Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Tony said with pride.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. And I've seen the footage, The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play. To lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you"

"I think I would just cut the wire."

"…Always a way out." Steve scoffed in disbelief. "You know you may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero? Like you? You're a lab experiment Roger's. Everything special about you came out of a bottle." They were face to face now.

"Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds." Steve suggested.

Thor laughed, "You people are so petty….and tiny."

"Yea, this is a team." Banner said.

"Agent S, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his-" Nick began, but Banner cut him off.

"Where? You rented my room." He said.

"The cell was just in case-"

"In case you needed to kill me. But you can't- I know, I tried." There was silence as everyone looked at Banner questioningly. "I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on. I focuses on helping other people. I was good-Until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk. You wanna know my secret Agent S, you wanna know how I stay calm?" He asked as he was slowly grabbing the scepter. Nick and Stella both had their hands on their guns.

"Dr. Banner." Steve said. "Put down the scepter" He looked confusingly at it in his hands, when suddenly he heard the computers beep.

"Got it." He said as he placed it back down. "Sorry kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all."

"You located the tesseract?" Thor asked.

"I can get there fastest" Tony volunteered.

"The tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it." Thor said.

"Your not going alone" Steve said as he grabbed Tony's shoulder.

"You gonna stop me?" He said as he slapped his hand off.

"Put on the suit let's find out" He said getting in Tony's face. Tony didn't back down.

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man."

Suddenly there was a huge explosion. People were blown everywhere. Stella and Banner had fallen down a floor and Tony and Steve had been blown against the wall. They sat u quickly.

"Put on the suit!" Steve said as he helped Tony up.

"Yea" Tony agreed.

"Stark" Nick called through all the chaos "Get outside and patch that engine"

"On it"

"Agent S" Nick called. There was no answer as she tried to pull her leg out from under a fallen pipe. "Stella" He repeated.

"We're ok" She said quickly, feeling scared. She looked over at Banner who was trying unsuccessfully to calm down.

"We're ok right?" She said, mostly to herself. She watched as he struggled more. "Bruce" She said in pain as she tried to pull her leg out. "You gotta fight it. This is just what Loki wants…We're gonna be ok. Listen to me." Two men ran up and asked if they were alright and Stella quickly waved them away, signaling for them to get away. "We're going to be ok, alright." She panicked as she saw him begin to shake and struggle worse. "I swear on my life, I will get you out of this You will walk away and never ever –"

"YOURE LIFE!?" He yelled in a monstrous voice, causing Stella to whimper in fear. She watched as Bruce painfully transformed into the Hulk.


	10. Chapter 10

Bruce was finally done transforming as Stella yanked her leg out from underneath the pipe. She stopped to turn as she saw The Hulk charge furiously after her. She wasted no time running up the steps. She jumped up onto the railing and flipped to the top as he ripped the stairs completely off. She maneuvered her way through the room, sliding and flipping graciously. He ripped the metal walkway from under her as she jumped through a small opening, landing like a cat. Banner's roar could be heard throughout the entire aircraft.

"Bring the carrier to a 180 heading south!" Fury yelled. "Take us to the water!"

"We're flying blind" One of the pilots said. "Navigation's recalibrating after the engine failure."

"Is the sun coming up?" Fury asked, looking at him like he was stupid.

"Yes sir" He answered.

"Then put it on the left! Get us over water. One more turbine goes down and we drop."

Steve had gone to help Tony. "Stark!" He called out as he stepped outside onto the highly damaged part of the ship. There were flames everywhere and there was a whole chunk missing from the ship. "I'm here!"

"Good" Tony said. "Let's see what we've got." He said as he looked at the damage.

Meanwhile, it had gotten quiet down where Stella was, which was honestly getting her really worried. She crept about, being extra cautious, breathing heavily. She found a hiding spot and crouched down. She heard large footsteps-Banner's, but she couldn't tell where they were coming from in the echoing dark room. She paused and listened, pulling out her gun. She decided to round the corner-bad move. As soon as she did she ran right into banner who roared loudly. She shot up at the pipe and it released gas that sprayed into Hulk's face, causing him to yell angrily.

She ran as fast as she could, ignoring the pain in her leg. She darted down a tunnel area with Bruce trailing behind, catching up as he destroyed everything in his path. She wasn't fast enough, though. He swung his mighty arm and hit Stella, slamming her hard into a wall, knocking the breath straight out of her. She sat, barely conscious in pain as she watched Bruce raise his giant arm, but suddenly get thrown through the wall by Thor. They landed in a hangar full of workers who took one look at the Hulk and ran for safety. They battled harshly, and Thor was able to get a few punches in but then got knocked through another wall.

"Ok, the relays are intact." Steve told Tony as he finished clearing the debris from the engine. "What's our next move?"

"Even if I clear the rotors, this thing won't reengage without a jump. I'm gonna have to get in there and push." Tony said.

"Well if that thing gets up to speed, you'll get shredded"

"That stator control unit can reverse the polarity long enough for me to disengage maglev and that could-"

"Speak English."

Tony sighed, "See that reed lever?" He said. Steve looked over and spotted it. "It will slow the rotors down long enough for me to get out. Stand by it, wait for my word." Steve jumped to the lever and waited.

Thor had swiped Banner with his hammer, sending him flying and destroying two airplanes in the hangar. Banner growled and ripped the wing from the plane, throwing it at Thor. Thor dodged it as it flew past him and ripped the roof off of a military jeep prototype. He threw his hammer at Hulk, who caught it, but was sent flying backwards. He attempted to pick it up, only getting frustrated at the fact that he couldn't. Thor jumped on his back, chocking him with the hammer as he was thrown around Bruce's back. He jumped through the ceiling onto another floor. A pilot had flown to the window Thor and Hulk were at to distract hulk from tearing the ship apart.

"Target acquired" He said as he aimed his guns at the window. "Target engaged." The bullets deflected off hulks rock solid skin as he ran towards the pilot. "Target angry!" He said as Banner jumped on the Jet and ripped it apart as they plummeted to the ground. Banner was left to fall as the pilot jumped out with his parachute as the jet exploded. Meanwhile, Hawkeye had over ridden the computers to malfunction and shut down the other engine.

"It's Barton." Fury called over his earpiece. " He took out our systems. And he's headed for the detention level." He waited for a response as Stella got herself together after what just happened. "Does anybody copy?" He asked.

"This is Stella" She said in a shaky voice. "I copy."

"Stark, we're losing altitude." Fury said to Stark.

"Yea, I noticed." He said as he pushed the propellers. Steve was battling some guards from Clint as he misstepped and fell, only holding on by a broken cable.

Stella had found Hawkeye and started fighting him. They were on an equal skill level, so they were both getting beaten by each other pretty badly. After a while, she finally slammed his head into the bar, knocking him unconscious.

"The humans think us immortal-Shall we test that?" Loki told Thor, who was now inside the cell instead of Loki.

"Move away please." Coulson said, pointing a large gun at the trickster. Loki backed away.

"You like this?" Coulson said, referring to the gun. "We started working on the prototype after you sent the destroyer. Even I don't know what it does." He started up the gun. "Do you wanna find out?" He suddenly groaned in pain as Loki stabbed Coulson through the back and out the stomach with the bladed end of his scepter.

"NOOOOO!" Thor yelled, banging helplessly on the glass. It was quiet as Loki slowly walked over to the button and pushed it, sending Thor falling.

"You're going to lose." Coulson breathed painfully after Thor had fallen.

"Am I?" Loki smiled.

"Its in your nature."

"Hmm. Your heroes are scattered. Your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?"

"You lack conviction." He smiled, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

"I don't think I lack any-" Coulson had fired the weapon, surprising Loki and blasting him through the wall. "…So that's what it does." Coulson said.

"Cap, hit the lever." Tony said as he'd gotten the rotors up to speed. He quickly pulled the lever, dodging shots from a guard. Tony got out and quickly tackled him, knocking him unconscious. The jet carrying Loki had managed to get away, taking him wherever he was headed to next.

Fury ran to his Agents Aide. "Sorry boss." Coulson spat out blood. Fury removed the heavy gun from his lap. "The god rabbited."

"Just stay awake." Fury said "Eyes on me." He'd lost many agents before, but Coulson was different.

"No, I'm clocking out here…" Coulson whimpered.

"Not an option." Fury said, starting to lose hope.

"It's okay. Boss" Coulson said exhausted with tears in his eyes. "This was never gonna work…if they didn't have something to…" His breaths were getting heavy, his eyes closing. "To…to…."He took one last breath before his body went limp and he stopped breathing, for good. Fury stared at the man a moment before putting his head down, fighting the urge to do what he's never done before and let a tear escape. He moved out of the way and sadly watched as the EMTs covered Coulson's body. He stood there as he let the fact that Coulson was dead sink in.

**Sorry for the lack of romance in this chapter guys-kind of an important part that I couldn't really leave out. I hated how Coulson had to die ****L**** But you know… soooo I'll update again soon and the next chapter will be better ****J**


	11. Chapter 11

Fury had announced Coulson's death, and Tony was sitting at the table with Steve- all the others were getting their wounds treated and mourning the loss alone. Thor and Banner were missing, too. After a couple minutes, Tony and Steve had finally figured out where Loki went.

"Time to go" Steve told Stella.

"Where?"

"Stark Tower- Your place. Loki's headed there." She thought for a moment. "You ok?" He asked her. He walked up to her and lifted her chin, looking at a scratch on her cheek and rubbing it with his thumb. Her face was flawless and her blue green eyes pierced into his crystal blue ones.

"I'm fine." She almost whispered as she cupped his hand in hers.

"You know how to fly one of those jets?" Steve asked her after a long moment, letting go of her.

"I can" Clint said as he walked out of the bathroom. Steve looked over at Stella and she nodded in assurance. "Suit up." Steve told him.

"Sir." Jarvis said. "I've turned off the arc reactor, but the device is already self-sustaining."

'Shut it down Dr. Selvig." Tony said to Selvig as he landed on the rooftop of his building.

"It's too late!" Selvig laughed. "She can't stop now. She wants to show us something. A new universe."

"Ok." Tony said as he shot the tesseract. It sent him flying as well as Eric.

"The barrier is pure energy. It's unbreachable." Jarvis said.

"Yea I got that." Tony said with a sigh. "Plan B." He looked down at Loki. He walked over, the robotic arms removing his Iron man suit. Loki walked up to meet him inside.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity." Loki said.

"Actually, I'm planning to threaten you." Tony said.

"You should have left your armor on for that."

" you like a drink?"

"Stalling me won't change anything" Loki said with a smile.

"No, no- threatening. No drink, you sure?" Tony said as he made his own drink.

'The chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers."

"Oh. I've met them."

"Let's do a head count here." Tony said, stalling so his suit was ready as he put on the scanning recognition bracelets. " Your brother, the demigod, A super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend. A man with breathtaking anger management issues, a couple of master assassins, and you big fella; You have managed to piss off every single one of them."

"That was the plan."

"Not a great plan. When they come, and they will. They'll come for you."

" I have an army."

"We have a Hulk"

"I thought the beast had wondered off"

"Your missing the point. There is no throne. There is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the earth you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it." Loki didn't care about the man's words. He grabbed Tony by the throat and threw him to the ground. "Jarvis, anytime now." Tony grunted.

Loki grabbed him again as Tony got up. "You will all fall before me." He said as Tony yelled deploy before being thrown out of the window. His iron man suit deployed and wrapped around him just in time.

"And there's one other person you pissed off." Tony said as he flew up to Loki. "His name was Phil." Tony blasted Loki to the ground. Suddenly, a portal opened and the chitauri army invaded. Tony tried to stop them but there were too many. They destroyed the city, blowing up and destroying everything, killing hundreds of innocent people. Loki laughed with glee at the horrid sight. Thor popped up, causing him and Loki to battle, Thor losing as he got stabbed. Heroes were fighting the aliens everywhere, it was pure chaos at its finest. Loki shot down the jet that Stella and Steve were using to shoot out many aliens. Steve had grabbed Stella and jumped out just before they hit the ground. They tumbled along and stopped, Steve on top of Stella. They made eye contact for a long moment before they were taken out of their trance by a blast nearby.

Suddenly, the biggest chitauri came out of the portal- bigger than the carrier they were on. It destroyed buildings easily, with more chitauri jumping from it.

"Stark, you seeing this?" Steve said.

"Seeing it. Still working on believing it." He said. "Banner show up yet?"

"Not yet."

Tony followed the huge beast at a distance, finding a weak spot to strike. Loki had caught a ride on one of the chitauri's spacecrafts, blowing the whole street to rubble. Clint was getting people out of a bus while Stella guarded his back with two pistols as Steve went to give orders to get the people to safety. Shortly after, Steve joined Stella and Clint and Thor also popped up.

"What's the story upstairs?" Steve asked him.

"The power surrounding the Cube is impenetrable." Suddenly, Banner showed up.

"Stark, we got Banner" Steve said.

"Yes. Tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you." He said as he quickly led the beast to them.

"I…I don't see how that's a party…"

"Dr. Banner, now might be a really good time for you to get really angry." Steve said.

"That's my secret, captain. I'm always angry." Banner said as he walked up to the beast, turning into Hulk very quickly. He punched the beast, stopping it and causing it to flip as tony shot at it, causing it to explode into large pieces. Steve had to shield Stella from getting hit with the pieces. Tony looked over at them momentarily and felt a range of emotions, but quickly focused on the task. They continued in an epic battle, killing chitauri after chitauri in different ways very skillfully. This went on for at least 10 minutes.

Stella had just tackled one off of her and met up with Steve. She sat down, breathing heavy and exhausted. "Steve, none of this is going to mean a damn thing if we don't close the portal."

"Our biggest guns couldn't touch it."

"Well, maybe it's not about guns." Stella said as she eyed the alien scepter in her hands.

"Well, if you wanna get up there you're gonna need a ride."

"I got a ride. I could use a boost though" She said, referring to the Chitauri aircrafts.

"You sure about this?"

"Yea…it's gonna be fun" She said, mainly trying to convince herself.

Steve moved close and kissed her. At first, it was a small kiss. But then, it grew bigger and more intense. It was probably the most intense kiss Stella has ever had. He pulled back and smiled, and she returned the smile. "Ready?" He said. She backed and ran forward, jumping in the air and taking over a chitauri jet. She made it up to Stark tower when Loki was thrown through the window by Hulk. "Enough!" Loki yelled at Banner. "You are, all of you, beneath me! I am a god you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by-" Banner picked him up and slammed him side to side many times. "Puny god." he said walking away as Loki was severely injured. Stella had been talking to Selvig, and she'd found out that Loki's scepter would be able to close the portal.

"Sir, we have a rogue bird! We need to shut it down now! It's carrying a nuclear missile to destroy the whole city!" An agent yelled. Fury was beyond panicked. He'd told the council to not send that nuke!

"Stark, you got a missile headed your way!" He said through the earpiece.

"How much time do I have?"

"3 minutes max."

Tony knew what he had do-He had to lay down on the wire and let the other guy crawl over him. There were too many of them for everyone to handle, and they were starting to lose-badly.

"I can close it! I can close the portal! Can anybody copy?" Stella said as she pushed the scepter through the barrier. "Do it!" Steve said. "No wait." Tony called. "I got a nuke coming in. It's gonna blow in less than a minute And I know just where to put it." He said as he grabbed onto the nuke and led it towards the portal.

"Stark…you know that's a one way trip."Steve said. Tony ignored him.

"Stella" He said through the earpiece. "I'm sorry I couldn't make 'us' work"

"Tony, don't do this, please." She begged.

"Just know that I've loved you. As a friend, as somebody I've taken care of, and as somebody I wanted to spend the rest of my life with." He continued.

"Tony please! You still can!" She watched as he flew into the portal with the bomb, tears dripping. Stella waited to close it as all the chitauri powered down. It worked.

"Come on Tony." She said.

"Stella, you can't leave it open, you gotta close that thing now!" Steve said. Crying, Stella closed it. The blast of the tesseract blew her off the building, sending her flying as she smiled as she caught a glimpse of Tony-He'd made it. Everybody watched as Stark fell, realizing he was unconscious. Banner was the only one who could catch one of them, but he'd have only seconds to make a decision on who to catch. Instinctively, he caught Stella, leaving Tony to crash into the ground with tremendous impact.

**Sorry if the chapters really long guys! But anyways, what's going to happen to Tony….I'll try to update as quickly as I can because this is kind of a cliff hanger XD**


	12. Chapter 12

"Tony!" Stella yelled as she wiggled out of Banner's grasp. She ran as fast as she could and stopped when she saw all of the avengers huddled around Tony with sorrowful expressions on their face.

"What happened! Why are you all just standing there?!" She yelled.

"Stella…"Steve said as he walked up to her and blocked her view of Tony. She pushed him out of the way and saw Tony, in his full iron man suit laying limp on the ground. He had hit the ground with so much force that he'd cracked and dented the cement. She took a closer look and her heart dropped. Blood was seeping from his Iron man helmet. She dropped to her knees by his side, panicking as tears flowed down like a waterfall. She took the iron man mask off of him and held onto his head, feeling the warm liquid soak her hands immediately. She let out a cry.

"Tony….Get up" She cried. "Stop playing around, come on Tony." She cried more after there was no response. There was so much blood. Nobody knew what to do, and nobody looked at either of them. They had their heads down, fighting tears. "TONY!" She yelled as it dawned on her that Tony wouldn't wake up. "Please, please don't do this to me! I'm sorry Tony! I love you! Please don't leave me." She whimpered, shaking with agony. Hulk roared in sorrow as a tear escaped each of the men's eyes. She repeated his name a couple more times. Nothing could describe how sad she felt, like somebody just took her whole life and shattered it before her. She shook violently with sobs, Letting Tony's blood surround her. "WHY!" She yelled. "Why didn't you catch him instead of me!" She cried as she realized this wasn't Banner's fault, but she didn't know what to do. She just lost the most important person in her life. She regretted not loving Tony like he loved her, and that he found out about it the way he did. She couldn't possibly imagine how badly she'd broken his heart. Now her heart was the one that would be broken forever. A big chunk has been taken from her heart and thrown on the ground, and she would never get it back. She cried and cried, holding onto Tony's dead body until Agents came by and took him, nobody uttered a sound the whole time, other than Stella's agony filled cries.

Fury was the one to go up to Stark Tower and retrieve Loki, who was still immobile due to his injuries. He was locked in a cell until Tony's memorial was over. Stella hadn't eaten and hardly said a word the rest of the time. Nobody had really interacted with her since she'd locked herself in her room the whole time. A day after that, Thor was ready to take him (And the tesseract) back to Asgard. Stella went with the other avengers to see Thor and Loki off, but she couldn't look at Loki without breaking down-After all, it was his fault that Tony had…died. So she stayed by Steve's bike, and watched from a distance as the two disappeared. She shook Banner's hand and hugged Clint goodbye. She stopped in front of Steve. "I….I don't know what to do now. There's nowhere left for me" She said. She didn't have any more relatives that wouldn't kick her to the curb like they all did before….before Tony took her in. A tear fell at the thought. Steve pulled her into a tight hug as she hid her face in his chest.

"You can come with me." He assured. She cried a bit more on his chest and then they hopped onto the Motorcycle together, Headed to god knows where.

**Hey guys. I'm kind of iffy about the way I ended it. I didn't think it would be this short and I'm sorry if it wasn't that great. But now that Stella is going with Steve then there's definitely going to be a winter Soldier fan fic about them coming up. Thanks for reading and like I said I'm sorry if this ending kind of sucked. And don't worry, I didn't forget about the whole "Tony knowing what happened to her parents" Thing-She'll find that out another time! Thanks again 3**


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